I wasn't sold on this bike from the product specs, even though I'm always a proponent of having nice, voluminous tires on pretty much every bike (without going full fatbike). But I built up our first one this week, the SLR 2 model, and I gotta say, this thing is super fun. That perfect blend of sporty 'snap' to the handling, but seems stable enough. It does remind me of the more well sorted rigid MTBs of their day in that regard.
I would feel much more confident taking this on extended rough trails compared to my CX bike. And I'm honestly thinking about selling my TCX worth twice as much and getting one of these. Certainly not revolutionary, but a VERY well sorted bike. Plenty of clearance up front too, to put a more aggressive front tire on it to handle looser terrain. I'd probably keep it near the 2.1" mark, but you can find some with serious meat in that range.
Edit: and the color selection on the SLR 2 is on point. I mean, I'm a niner fan and it's pretty much blatant Seahawks colors and I don't even care, it looks so good. Haven't seen the nicer model in person yet, but I'm less of a fan of the black/red combo on bikes.